Ink Out Loud: Chip in or opt out?

I was reading an article about a child's abduction. The police officer was pointing out how urgent the first 24 to 48 hours are when a child is missing.

Microchipping -- I thought to myself. It seems as though the process of locating a missing person could be expedited substantially with the assistance of technology.

For some reason though, it just seems unnatural.

Is it bizarre to propose the idea of implanting microchips in children?

Some people consider their dogs and/or cats their "children."

Most of those pet owners will be the first ones to tell you microchipping is the responsible thing to do. I'm sure their decision has a lot to do with the fact that the animals cannot speak for themselves or will unknowingly put themselves in harm's way.

Now, isn't this also true of many children, primarily infants.

I am not suggesting people should microchip children, but what is it about the idea that makes it seem innately wrong?

Maybe we don't want to commit to a full-blown surrender of freedom, innocence and anonymity.

Maybe it feels too much like a science fiction movie.

Nostalgia is probably a factor, too.

I can say I remember when I played outside all day until night fell. Nobody came looking for me. There was no way to really track me, as there were no cell phones or pagers back in those days.

I walked to kindergarten alone. I wasn't afraid of anything except for maybe Judy Depew, who liked to use her umbrella as a weapon.

A few years later, not too far away, was a little boy who ached for that independence as many children do.

"In May 1979, Etan Patz was given something he desperately wanted: permission to walk to the school bus stop all by himself, two blocks from his SoHo home. On the Friday of Memorial Day weekend he enjoyed that new freedom for the first and only time," the New York Times reported.

The same month, 33 years later, an arrest was made charging a man with the murder of Patz.

What if there had been a way to track him and locate him? Perhaps it could have saved the boy's life.

The same might be said for Jessica Lunsford who was alive for days and close to her home, hidden by a child molester. The repeat offender eventually buried the 8-year-old alive.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 800,000 children are reported missing annually, with about 204,000 kidnapped by family members and another 58,000 kidnapped by non-family members, but people they are familiar with. More than half of the missing children cases are runaways.

Just more than 1oo children are reported missing as a result of true stranger abductions.

The odds of your child being abducted are pretty low. What parent wants to take a chance though?

Pets have been microchipped for years. VeriChip was approved for implantation in humans by the FDA in 2004 and in three years about 2,000 were implanted in people worldwide, according to the Washington Post.

You can track your pets. You can track your car if it is stolen. Why not track your children?

Chip in with your thoughts about this.

Mandy Feder is the Managing Editor for Lake County Publishing. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 ext. 32. Follow her on Twitter @mandyfeder1.